Rivera began her career working in New York City public schools, providing afterschool enrichment programs in Math and English Language Arts. She went on to work at Lawyers Alliance for New York, and then became the director of programs and services at
Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), a local
nonprofit organization focused on neighborhood housing and preservation,
economic development, and community revitalization. She was also a member of
Manhattan Community Board 3 and later worked in the New York City Council, serving as the legislative director for
Rosie Mendez.
New York City Council 2016–17 City Council campaign Rivera launched her campaign for
City Council in 2016, running for the
2nd District, which encompasses the
East Village,
Flatiron,
Gramercy Park,
Rose Hill,
Kips Bay,
Murray Hill, and the
Lower East Side. Rivera was endorsed by the
Working Families Party, then
City Public Advocate Letitia James, then
City Comptroller Scott Stringer, Rep.
Nydia Velazquez, Rivera and her husband, Jamie Rogers, lived in a federally subsidized, low-income
Section 8 apartment with an annual income limit of $61,050 for a family of two. Rogers, a former corporate lawyer at
Sullivan & Cromwell, owns a growing coffee business, a
Grand Street co-op apartment in
Lower Manhattan, which he rents out, and a small family trust fund. Pictures of Rogers on a yacht owned by his father William P. Rogers Jr., a retired partner at
Cravath, Swaine & Moore, were deleted before the Democratic primary. Their eligibility was questioned as Rivera’s salary as a City Council staffer was $41,770, which means her husband would have had to earn less than $20,000 a year in order for the family to be under the limit.
Tenure In 2019, as a co-chair of the Women’s Caucus, Rivera was involved in securing $250,000 for the
New York Abortion Access Fund to provide abortions for women not covered by insurance or
Medicaid, including for those who travel from out-of-state. This funding made New York City the first to allocate money directly to abortion procedures. She has called for more aid to reach the city’s public hospital system, including funding and programs around reproductive healthcare. She also introduced a legislation to create a patient advocate’s office within the
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to help New Yorkers navigate the healthcare system. In the same year, Rivera introduced legislations to create an
Office of Active Transportation and
Office of Pedestrians to assess conditions for safe biking and walking in the city and make recommendations for improvements. She introduced and passed a legislation to strengthen protections for renters during periods of maintenance, renovation, and construction. She introduced a legislation to require child protective specialists to explain to parents or caretakers about their rights during initial contact of an
ACS investigation. and passed bills to outlaw the sale of
foie gras and outlaw pigeon trafficking. In an effort to crack down on illegal hotel operators, she introduced a bill in June 2018 to require
short-term rental companies such as
Airbnb to report host data to the city. The bill passed the Council 45–0 and was signed into law by Mayor
Bill de Blasio on August 6, 2018. Rivera came under criticism for supporting the construction of the workforce development center
Civic Hall, the waterfront renovation the
East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, and the rezoning of SoHo and NoHo neighborhoods in downtown Manhattan, all within her Council district boundaries. All three land use applications were eventually approved by the New York City Council. Rivera was featured as a Thought Leader in
V Magazine in 2020 for her advocacy in voting rights expansion. She was listed on
City & State’s 2020’s Above and Beyond as a Lower East Side success story. In June 2022, Rivera voted for a controversial $101 billion budget that will cut funding for the
city's Department of Education by $600 million, citing "fundamental flaws" in the
Fair Student Funding formula. Rivera is Chair of the Council’s Committee on Hospitals and member of the council's Women's Caucus, Progressive, and Black, Latino, and Asian Caucuses.
2022 Congressional campaign Rivera announced her candidacy for the
U.S. House of Representatives in early June 2022 to represent the newly-redistricted
New York's 10th congressional district. She was the only candidate that currently lives outside the district but has said that she will move into it if elected. She was endorsed by Rep.
Nydia Velázquez, Rep.
Adriano Espaillat, Brooklyn
Borough President Antonio Reynoso,
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, several
City Council members, and unions such as
1199SEIU and
Transport Workers Union of America. Rivera has been a supporter of allowing more density and
affordable housing in the Manhattan neighborhoods of
SoHo and
NoHo. She raised a large amount of money from major real estate developers and lobbyists, including
billionaire real estate developer
Jed Walentas of Two Trees, Kirk Goodrich, Don Capoccia, Robert Levine of RAL Companies, Bruce Teitelbaum, and Daniel R. Tishman of
Tishman Realty & Construction, the firm that managed the building of
One World Trade Center.
The New York Times reported she reached out to at least two other executives in the real estate industry for donations as of August 2022. Rivera said she has put religious exemptions in legislation in the past and is "willing to explore that and do it on the federal level." She walked back her statement and clarified that she opposes giving private businesses a pass on discriminating against LGBTQ+ people. She was also called out by then-rival congressional candidate
Dan Goldman for her investments in defense contractors
Lockheed Martin and
Northrop Grumman, as well as the gun company
Smith & Wesson. Rivera finished in fourth place in the crowded
Democratic primary with 10,985 votes (17%), losing to
Dan Goldman. ==Post New York City Council Public Service and Career==